The purpose of this paper is to analyze the socioeconomic research on food waste recycling, present an overview of the trends, and consider the types of systems that should be developed, based on the current research directions. Research on food waste recycling has been conducted with the aim of solving various problems that have arisen in different periods. It is noted that research has moved in the direction of specialization to solve real-world problems. However, in the process, the analysis of the two aspects, i.e., “material circulation in nature” and “material circulation in society” have become limited to “material circulation in society,” while the viewpoint of “material circulation in nature” has become weak. Therefore, in the systematization of food waste recycling research in the future, it is necessary to identify the types of efforts that are necessary to realize the “material circulation in nature” based on the results of research on the “material circulation in society.”

This study clarifies how much repeat participants who participated more than once in Working Holiday Iida contribute toward farm work of host farmers when participating in the program. It focused on the rural-urban exchange activities called Working Holiday Iida and conducted a survey with host farmers of the program. The repeat participants’ contributions of supporting the labor force were calculated based on the time required for farm work in fruit cultivation. There were differences in contributions depending on the scale of cultivation; however, in the case of small-scale farmers, more than 85% of the harvesting was performed by repeat participants.

The purpose of this research is to clarify how the biodiversity conservation effect of organic farming leads to sales promotion. Through sales experiments, the appealing effects of presentation with biodiversity information was examined. The main outcomes are as follows. First, the characteristics of those who purchased organic products were that they were in their 30s to 60s, without children, and their residences were outside the experimental area. Secondly, it was suggested that the presentation of information appealing to biodiversity conservation effects may improve the purchasing behavior of people who usually do not purchase organic products.

This study aims to clarify the roles of migrant entrepreneurs in the inheritance and development of local food in Tambasasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, as a case. After identifying the current status of their utilization of local ingredients and cooking methods, their access to information within the region and new activities other than providing food, their roles were discussed. The survey result revealed that migrant entrepreneurs played the roles of (1) digging up and accumulating information on local food, (2) passing on production techniques, (3) developing new ways to utilize local food, (4) expanding recognition of them among a large number of people, and (5) promoting local agricultural products.

This study clarifies the consumption trends and patterns of olive oil in Japan before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Three years of scanner panel data from 2019 to 2021 was used in this analysis. The latent class model was adopted to discover heterogenous groups of olive oil consumption. The results identified four distinctive classes. Although about 40 percent of consumers did not change their purchase behavior throughout the period, other consumers moved their consumption toward high-, medium- or low-priced oil. The membership function of consumer attributes was also estimated.

The purpose of this study is to identify a mechanism that allow local government officials to manage a workshop of residents for the establishment of a Region Management Organization (RMO). This study revealed that local government officials carried out the establishment by receiving training and support from an outside expert. The study concludes that the characteristics of the system that made it possible for local government officials to manage workshops were (1) the assignment of staff in charge within the local government, (2) on-the-job training opportunities for local government officials, and (3) a backup system with an expert.

The objective of this study is to quantify the impact of the installation of small hydropower plants on local resource conservation activities in rural communities. By matching the land improvement areas and the rural community boundaries with GIS (Geographic Information System), we create the panel data set, which enabled us to analyze the relationship between the agricultural attributes of communities and the beneficiary areas of small hydropower plants. As the results of fixed logit estimation, the installation of small hydropower plants has a positive impact on the number of the local conservation activities to preserve irrigation and drainage channels.

The objective of this study is to judge whether Japanese sweet potatoes are differentiated in the Hong Kong and Singapore imported sweet potato market, where most Japanese sweet potatoes are exported to. The methods used in this study are generalized composite commodity theorem and the law of one price in terms of horizontal price transmission between imported sweet potatoes from several countries in the two countries above. The results suggest that Japanese sweet potatoes are differentiated in Hong Kong. However, it is not the case with Singapore.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how to build GI brand equity focusing on the Kobe Beef GI Brand Value Network. The research demonstrates that the Kobe beef GI brand value network was created by unifying various players, who work together towards a shared goal, defined by the Kobe beef standards. The added value obtained by GI brand is distributed to each player, and it becomes an incentive to participate continuously by expanding the subject of the brand to the region; the ripple effect of economy, environment, society, and culture which brought about the vibrancy of the region was clarified.

In this study, we present the experience and interaction activities of farming experience farms in Nerima, Tokyo, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The status is as follows. First, farming experience farms functioned as a close place for city dwellers to experience agriculture, even under the unusual circumstance of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, farmers devised ways to offer workshops that teach about farmwork, e.g., the use of video content. Finally, almost all of the various events at farming experience farms were cancelled, and interactions decreased. These results play a role in documenting the response to a contingency and examining future efforts toward the post-COVID-19 scenario.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors of the custom of long-term employment in large-scale rice paddy field corporations. In this study, we conducted a case study of Company A, which has an established custom of long-term employment, and conducted an analysis focusing on the complementary relationship among the human resource management policies of Company A. As a result, it was confirmed that the human resource management policies of Company A are mutually complementary. On the other hand, the complementary relationship in Company A was found to be unstable.

The Basic Act on Shokuiku (Japan’s dietary education program) was enacted in 2005. It has promoted using local vegetables in school lunches. We reconsidered the methods of using local vegetables in school lunches by comparing two regions in Ibaraki Prefecture with different school-lunch kitchen systems. In Town A, which had chosen a central kitchen system, we found that local producer organizations helped coordinate the use of local vegetables. In City B, where school lunches were cooked at each school, local vegetable shops were the main suppliers, and the shops and the city coordinated the system with municipal vegetable markets.